Two totally separate questions: about barrel rust, and about upper assemblies

[ucla_jtsuei]

I figured I'd post this in general discussions.

1. There's rust in the grooves of my chromed barrels (see picture). I like to think I clean my guns very well (almost religiously) after shooting. I use Ed's Red as my main powder solvent, and I always push a patch soaked with CLP through for storage. When I inspect the bores from the muzzle end, with a light shined from the breech, the bores generally reflect a mirror-shine. But when I inspect the bore from the muzzle end while shining a light from the muzzle end, I see rust streaks in the grooves. This is true for my WASR-10, WASR-2, PSL, and Beretta 92. What am I doing wrong?

1a) I sometimes shoot corrosive surplus. I flush the salts out with boiling water, followed with a WD-40 flush.





2. Now for a totally different question. I want to build an M16A4 (government) replica. The upper assembly should be a flat-top upper with a 20" barrel, correct? I'm also looking for M5 RAS handguards. Are there any recommended brands or vendors?

[ocabj]

I'm pretty sure you're looking at copper.

[ucla_jtsuei]

Ah, much appreciated.

[ar15barrels]

Your cleaning regimen is not taking out the copper very good.

[ucla_jtsuei]

Yup. I reread the original recipe for Ed's Red. I missed the part about it not being an effective copper defouler.

[Gwenzilla]

Use J-B bore compound, works well on copper and lead fouling.

http://www.impactguns.com/store/product1054.html

[eaglemike]

+1 for copper

Hard chrome plating is also a fairly porous situation. It's porous enough that things can rust under the plating. A couple of tings can prevent this; maintenance, or another plating layer underneath. Since you're doing the CLP thing, nothing to worry about. I mention this because some people think hard chrome makes things rust-proof. It can take a while, but long term negligence can result in this situation.

all the best,

Mike